Risk Assessment that Centralizes Battered Women’s Safety

The aim of assessing a battered woman’s risks is to centralize her safety in the most comprehensive way possible. At its best, effective evaluation of risks for battered women departs from traditional therapeutic models and illuminates the complex network of needs and problems each woman faces. It allows the practitioner and the battered women to address holistically the complicated realities of the woman’s experiences and existence. It recognizes that the apparent risks for a battered woman may be only the tip of an iceberg while significant portions of the dangers she faces remain hidden. Although the concept might seem simple, it is not an easy task. Such assessments begin with the individual woman and the immediate circumstances of her abuse, but may end with her extended family living in a village ten thousand miles away